Moose (elbow) held out of opener vs. Rockies

DENVER -- Third baseman Mike Moustakas, the postseason-bound Brewers’ top home run hitter with Christian Yelich out for the season, missed a second straight start on Friday night because of discomfort in his right elbow.

It’s a nagging issue that lately has been bothering him on throws, according to Brewers manager Craig Counsell. Moustakas had a similar sensation early in Spring Training when he resumed activity every day. The current issue came up after he returned to action following games missed because of a painful hand injury.

“We made some progress [Thursday],” said Counsell, who rested Moustakas along with several regulars for Thursday's game against the Reds following Wednesday’s postseason clincher, “but it’s important that we keep making progress. You’ve seen we’ve been taking him out of some games before yesterday. His elbow is getting sore as the game goes on. The hope is we can get him two games here. The goal is we have to try to put it behind him so we’re not worried about this in October.”

Moustakas did appear as a pinch-hitter on Friday, as the elbow issue does not affect his ability to swing the bat. He flew out in the ninth inning to end the Brewers' 11-7 loss to Colorado.

Woodruff on hold

Here’s what we know: Brewers All-Star pitcher Brandon Woodruff, healthy following two months down with an oblique injury, will not start on Saturday against the Rockies on what would have been his normal turn in the rotation. Gio Gonzalez will.

Here’s what we don’t know: When will Woodruff slot back in?

“There’s so many things that can happen still,” Counsell said.

That summed up where the Brewers stood as they began their regularly scheduled regular-season series at Colorado on Friday night, one game behind the Cardinals in the National League Central standings and one game behind the Nationals in the Wild Card race with three games to go. As of Friday, the Brewers had no idea whether their chartered flight on Sunday night would be headed to St. Louis for a Game 163 to decide the division on Monday, to Washington D.C. for the NL Wild Card Game on Tuesday, to Milwaukee for the Wild Card Game, or to Milwaukee to rest up for an NL Division Series matchup with the Braves that would begin on Thursday in Atlanta.

• MLB standings

Holding back Woodruff, who confirmed he is 100 percent healthy, gives the team some options:

1) If the Brewers can clinch the division outright on Sunday, which would require some help from the Cubs at Busch Stadium, Milwaukee could start Woodruff and go for it.

2) If the Brewers can tie the Cardinals for the division or clinch home-field advantage in the Wild Card Game (all they must do is be tied with Washington after 162 games) then there would be another decision: Pitch Woodruff and go for it -- with their most effective second-half starter, Jordan Lyles, available on regular rest for a potential Game 163 on Monday or with a day of extra rest for a potential Wild Card Game on Tuesday -- or start someone else and save Woodruff for either Monday or Tuesday.

3) If the Brewers were eliminated from both the division race and could not clinch the top Wild Card spot, it would make sense to hold Woodruff for the Wild Card Game, perhaps pitching in some sort of tandem with Lyles.

“We’ll just keep it open and figure out what’s happening, and understand that at this point, the worst-case scenario is there’s a game Tuesday,” Counsell said. “That’s what we have to make sure we’re prepared for.”

Yelich could win NL batting title

The NL batting title has come down to the final weekend with Yelich in pole position. He hit .32924, just ahead of current runner-up Ketel Marte of the D-backs at .32865. Both suffered season-ending injuries but had plenty of plate appearances to qualify. Their competition is Washington’s Anthony Rendon, who entered Friday hitting .32096.

If Rendon gets four at-bats in each of the Nationals’ three remaining games against the Indians, he would have to go at least 9-for-12 to surpass Yelich.

Yelich already set the single-season Brewers record for OPS (1.100 OPS, surpassing Prince Fielder’s 1.014 in 2009) and slugging percentage (.671 to top Fielder’s .618 in 2007. In addition, at least two more club records are within reach for Yasmani Grandal and Alex Claudio. Grandal needs six walks to match Fielder’s club record 114 in 2010, and Claudio needs only one more appearance to match Ken Sanders’ 83 games in 1971.

Last call

• Counsell had no desire to wade into the debate over comments made by Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who said he wouldn’t be concerned were people to criticize the look of his lineups now that Chicago has been relegated to spoiler role in their season-ending series in St. Louis.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about it. That’s their deal and we’ve got our deal,” Counsell said. “It’s not really that interesting for me. They’ve got their job to do and we’ve got our job to do. It’s hard enough for me already to worry about them doing their job. I don’t have any doubts the Cubs are trying to win games. There’s a lot of competitive people there trying to win games.”

• The Nationals announced Friday that Max Scherzer would start the NL Wild Card Game, with fellow starters Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin available in relief.

“They’re doing what I would have expected them to do, what they should do,” Counsell said.